Snippet #2042325

Ari just kept walking. She thought about nothing but keeping her aching body moving. She was tired, she was cold, she was hungry, and she still couldn't shake this depressed feeling about her. She wanted to lay down and sleep, in all honesty, though concentrating on keeping herself, and by extension Scarlet, moving forward, she was able to momentarily forget everything that was plaguing her. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left, right, left, right, march, march, march...She made sure to, when she thought about it, give Scarlet water. While she needed some as well, she had extra water skins in her pack, as well as some dried sticks of jerked beef. She gave one to Scarlet, making sure that the girl ate it to keep her own energy up. Grudgingly, she also shared what she could with the group after Scarlet insisted on it. She would have rather kept it to her self and Scarlet, but she supposed she didn't want to be responsible for dragging someone else along too. It wasn't much, but it was a bit of strength at least. It helped morale a little too, she supposed. By the half-way mark, Ari was leaning on Scarlet almost as much as Scarlet was leaning on her.

Ven was doing well enough. His legs were a little sore from all the walking, but he dared not complain. When Arienna passed out her jerky sticks, he decided he should contribute as well, giving everyone a small dose of the nutrient salve. It helped as well, though he made sure to give more to the gem hosts than those who looked to be relatively alright. Jet didn't seem to have trouble keeping up with him, which was good, and after a while, Ven began to daydream, forgetting Jet or Nadanna or Shadowmere were even there. He would mumble something about a calculation or a piece of equipment every so often, though he did seem somewhat interested in the wind gem host. The guy kept putting his hands to his ears, as though they were bothering him. Ears operated on the movement of particles, which could be amplified by the direction of wind. It made sense that he could be having problems with sound, in which case, Ven could make something to assist the man, but only once he had enough supplies to build something.

Kass was quiet the entire time they walked, eating silently by simply nibbling at the jerky, and accepting the salve without complaint. Zet's words, though she knew they were supposed to be comforting, were not. They would have to kill...it was the nature of the world. To protect people...Could she take another life? Even if it was someone she knew was evil? Did she really have that kind of...of brutality in her? She had to. Zet said so, the ghost things that had given them the gems said she had to...but why? She didn't want to. But if she didn't, hundreds of people would die. Millions. If she didn't kill the people who would kill everyone, she might as well be killing the people their enemies were killing herself. She cried at various intervals of the trip, and nothing Zet said made it better. She just wanted to wake up in her own room, away from this crazy war and this stupid adventure. She just wanted things to be normal. At least when things were normal, she didn't have to worry about killing anyone.